Dwayne Johnson Has Wanted to Play Hercules for 15 Years

Dwayne Johnson has had a particular character in mind for many years, and he’s finally getting his wish. Johnson revealed to MTV that Brett Ratner’s upcoming Hercules film is that very project.

“The next shoot, I’m really excited about, a passion project I’ve had now on my mind ever since I got into Hollywood, over 15 years now, ‘Hercules.’ I can’t wait. We’re going to shoot that in Croatia and Budapest. I’ve been preparing for this role now for the good part of a year.”

When asked why Hercules is such a passion project for him, Johnson elaborated:

“Understand, for me when I was a kid, Hercules was always a hero of mine, from Steve Reeves to the multiple guys who have played Hercules, but the idea and the notion of this man. When I first got into movies, I thought, ‘Gosh, I would love to do that one day.’ I always thought that the version of Hercules that I want to play was one that was more dramatic and survived in barren lands and not necessarily slick in any way or anything like that. It’s been around and been on my mind for some time.”

The upcoming film will be based on the Radical Publishing “Hercules” comic books of which there were two series; “The Thracian Wars” and “The Knives of Kush,” both written by Steve Moore with art by Cris Bolsin.

The screenplay for the film version was written by Ryan Condol. MGM’s Roger Birnbaum, Gary Barber and Jonathan Glickman will produce with Peter Berg and his Film 44 partner Sarah Aubrey, as well as Barry Levine of Radical Pictures, whose Jesse Berger will executive produce. MGM and Paramount Pictures have set an August 8, 2014 release date.